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NFP: Police intimidation sabotages party's Savusavu Talanoa Session

3/5/2017

9 Comments

 

"The intimidation plus the presence of Education Minister [Mahendra Reddy] who was in Savusavu conducting a workshop led to the school management taking the decision to cancel the use of the venue. It is worth noting that the School’s head teacher and manager were with the Education Minister when the NFP Leader questioned the Minister as to whether he influenced them to take such a decision. This is after the Minister failed to reply to a message by the NFP Leader on the issue."

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The Khemindra Primary School Manager had earlier given permission for the Talanoa session to be held at the school at a cost of $150. It was to be hosted by the NFP Leader, Hon Parmod Chand, Mr Pio Tikoduadua and other management board members of the party. Notices of the session to be held between 5.30pm-7.30pm on Tuesday were distributed to the public. However before midday Tuesday, the School Manager informed the Party to find another venue because they felt intimidated by police who were making queries as to the purpose and objective of the Talanoa/meeting, as well as who would be in attendance. The Manager stated that they feared the school would not get funding for a school project if the Party held its meeting at the school. The intimidation plus the presence of Education Minister [Mahendra Reddy] who was in Savusavu conducting a workshop led to the school management taking the decision to cancel the use of the venue. It is worth noting that the School’s head teacher and manager were with the Education Minister when the NFP Leader questioned the Minister as to whether he influenced them to take such a decision. This is after the Minister failed to reply to a message by the NFP Leader on the issue. The climate of fear and intimidation is still prevalent despite resumption of parliamentary democracy.
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May 3, 2017
 
MEDIA RELEASE
 
Police intimidation sabotages NFP Talanoa Session
 
Police intimidation through repeated inquiries about the purpose and agenda of a National Federation Talanoa session led to the Management of Khemindra Primary School in Savusavu withdrawing its permission and approval to the Party for use of the school resulting in cancellation of the Talanoa session on Tuesday evening.
 
We regard this as sabotage because of instilling of fear into the public by police. Police has no right whatsoever to interfere in any meeting to be held by a political party. The Public Order (Amendment) Act gives freedom to political parties and other organisations to hold meetings without the need to obtain a permit from police except when the venue is a public place like parks and roads.
 
The presence of plain clothes police officers at political meetings and even informal Talanoa sessions like the one the party held with the youth in Suva last Saturday, and grilling members of the public and those giving their venues for such meetings is detrimental to the conduct of free and fair elections.
 
 The nation being governed like a Military and Police State should have ended with the resumption of parliamentary democracy in October 2014. But it is clear that police doesn’t understand and respect fundamental rights and freedoms of our citizens and the need for political parties to operate in a free and fair environment where our people are unafraid and totally free to ask questions, raise issues and express dissent against any policy of Government.
 
The Khemindra Primary School Manager had earlier given permission for the Talanoa session to be held at the school at a cost of $150. It was to be hosted by the NFP Leader, Hon Parmod Chand, Mr Pio Tikoduadua and other management board members of the party. Notices of the session to be held between 5.30pm-7.30pm on Tuesday were distributed to the public.
 
However before midday Tuesday, the School Manager informed the Party to find another venue because they felt intimidated by police who were making queries as to the purpose and objective of the Talanoa/meeting, as well as who would be in attendance.
 
The Manager stated that they feared the school would not get funding for a school project if the Party held its meeting at the school. The intimidation plus the presence of Education Minister who was in Savusavu conducting a workshop led to the school management taking the decision to cancel the use of the venue.
 
It is worth noting that the School’s head teacher and manager were with the Education Minister when the NFP Leader questioned the Minister as to whether he influenced them to take such a decision. This is after the Minister failed to reply to a message by the NFP Leader on the issue.
 
The climate of fear and intimidation is still prevalent despite resumption of parliamentary democracy. We demand that police and other State agencies diligently perform the duties required of them, instead of trying to find out what political parties are doing.
 
They should stop becoming law unto themselves because it only erodes efforts to have free and fair elections by preventing political parties from amplifying the voice of the ordinary people.
 
Authorised by: -
 
Professor Biman Prasad
NFP Leader
 
Attached: -
 
Picture – Hon Professor Prasad (standing) and Mr Pio Tikoduadua (seated – orange bula shirt) talking to Education Minister Hon Mahendra Reddy (seated – red bula shirt) after the Minister failed to respond to a text message from NFP Leader

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RESPONSE: Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho says Professor Biman Prasad is most welcome to lodge a complaint with Fiji Police's Internal Affairs Department

9 Comments
Chiku
3/5/2017 10:59:13 am

Fijian democracy displaying its dictatorial character - it's true character. Ideally, the mob in power would prefer no opposition at all.
The next best thing - for them - is to hound the opposition and deny them democratic space. The police act as the hounddog of the rogue rulers.

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Gulong
3/5/2017 05:54:24 pm

savusavu is a microcosm of what is happening at the national level under the Fiji First Party, namely repression of freedoms using the coercive instruments of the state in this case the Police, the threat of the loss of entitlements, and outright deception by campaigning for the next general election under the guise of public consultation by Govt Ministers,
This week Education Minister, Reddy. Last week Minister for All Things, Khaiyum in his pork barreling public budget consultations. Hearing pleas for road upgrades here and tax concessions there. The road show unfolds. What a great Govt we are as we consult the people in preparation of our annual budget. You may as well do away with the rural development structures such as DOs and Rokos that are the proper mechanisms for channelling grassroots needs to Govt for funding.
Govts are elected to get on with fulfilling their development agenda but the FFP Govt has not developed a national development plan to inform its citizens of where it wants to take the economy in the 5 years Govt is in office. Khaiyum soaked up public funds and staying at classy hotels conducting public consultations to identify needs and wants that would be packaged into a National Development Plan. To this day the much touted plan has not been produced. Tch. Tch. Tch. the Minister for Everything needs to be marked a D in his appraisal of his annual KPIs.

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Dekho
3/5/2017 07:38:32 pm

Has the mediocre academic with a defective moral compass Mahendra Reddy become shorter and fatty since joining the Bai-Kai rogue regime?
He has certainly become a regime fat cat, hasn't he?

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Samjoe
3/5/2017 07:47:40 pm

Dictatorship installed Police Commissioner ( the chief hounddog of the Bainimarama regime ) says Professor Biman is most welcome to lodge a complaint with the Fiji Police Internal Affairs . He forgot to say the complaint will then be swept under the carpet. How many Police complaints have been left in abeyance since the unlawful takeover of 2006 of which this Police Commisioner was a principal part?

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Samjoe
3/5/2017 08:03:09 pm

Supposing the order to sabotage the public meeting scheduled by the main Opposition party the NPF in Savusavu came from the very top ( remember most decisions are still made by Bainimarama and Khaiyum and their underlings, including government ministers, simply carry them out ) what will the military import Police Commissioner Qiliho do with Professor Biman Prasad's complaint , should he be naive enough to lodge it?

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Rajend Naidu
4/5/2017 12:31:06 am

Editor,
Police Acting For Special Interest Rather Than The Public Good
First time feature documentary maker Hollie Fifer said in her abc interview 4/5/17 that in the "forced eviction "of members of a local community to make way for "developers seeking to replace their homes with a five- star hotel and marina wharf" the police were acting for the developers/ the company without any regard for the rights of the local landowners.
That's not surprising as its common knowledge that PNG is an extremely corrupt country.
Hollie's documentary The Opposition opens at the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival in Melbourne. It's already had a screening at the Toronto Film Festival
( Read more in ' Documentary filmmaker Hollie Fifer' in The Saturday Paper, issue#154 April 29 - May 5, 2017 ).
Fiji is not going down the PNG way,is it?
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Reply
Chiku
4/5/2017 03:11:59 am

Where is Robin Nair the diplomat fala who went to prop up Bainimarama and Khaiyum's " true democracy " in Fiji ?
Can he say something about the kind of democracy Fiji has under his heroes?

Reply
Pundit Golmal
4/5/2017 08:39:46 am

Labasa smart-arsed academics, Biman and Reddy were once best of mates. Both are so alike that Biman could easily have been in Reddy’s shoes today and vice-versa. Both are equally boring. Now Biman pio-ing Pio’s shows not only Biman’s deep-seated insecurity as a Leader (needs an itaukei Coupist to masi-polo) but also his glaring shortsightedness and bad judgement. Future as I see, NFP is doomed with Pio.

Reply
Maibekana Vuramaibulu link
5/5/2017 02:15:06 am

What are they (police) trying to do. Is it the Government are feeling insecure when other parties are holding their meetings.

Reply

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